Dear Friends,
At long last I am getting updated with new technology ! Enjoy my blog and get ready for daily words of wisdom and inspiration!
Love and gratitude
Sally
How I became a SoulWoman
By Sally Forrest
Partner, SoulCentre
The great Masters say that a journey of a lifetime begins with a single step; on reflection, how true this is , and how interesting that the journey bears no resemblance to what life would have been had I not taken that first step.
I was born and educated in the UK and raised in a large, loving family where it was important to do well, get a good career and lead a life with meaning. Thus I was driven from an early age to succeed and to be independent. Being the middle child of 5 daughters, resources were limited and so I learnt from an early age to work hard in the world to succeed.
With new awareness, I now realize in hindsight that a life of meaning does not merely mean chasing the externals of life.
I studied hard, obtained good grades and graduated from University as a Pharmacist. I then worked for a leading UK company, Boots, and soon got promoted into management positions. In fact I got a “high” from promotions and every 18 months found myself moving home to undertake a new role in a different part of the UK. At that time the externals were my focus- Title, Career, House, Car, etc, etc. I excelled at “doing” and in using my very organized and active mind, and so found myself riding on the high of corporate life. Targets were exceeded, company results were the main motivator and my life was very much on the fast track of the business world.
Out of the blue, my partner and I were asked to go to Thailand to open Boots stores there. Believe it or not, it was a tough decision as it meant giving up the UK roles and status and in effect starting a new company thousands of miles away in Thailand. Those of you who have been in the corporate rat race realize that out of sight often means out of mind …especially when opening stores in Asia was a “ project” at the time and so politically it was not always supported by everyone in the company.
So it was a tough decision to leave the main spotlight and to go off onto an unknown project!
However, I made the decision to go and for the next 3 years found myself working in Thailand. It was right up my alley – fast paced, making decisions on all aspects of the business, opening stores at break neck speed of one every 2 weeks ….and of course socializing and mixing to promote the brand.
Interestingly, at times my whole identity was the brand, as I often worked 7 days and 12 hour days were a norm. (With Thailand being 8 hours ahead of the UK, one would receive calls at crazy times of the night, from head office staff asking mundane questions and not realizing there was a time zone difference …)
Whilst in Thailand I also completed an MBA , got married in a Thai style wedding and met a wonderful missionary who had a vision of opening an orphanage ….so all this added to the buzz and experiences.
Three crazy years passed and 70 stores were opened. Life was fun. Suddenly one day, totally out of the blue I was asked to return back to the UK and to take part in a project to downsize the parent company, which in plain English means making thousands of people redundant.
Wow, what a change from what I had become comfortable doing - from starting a company, full of fun and employing people…to returning to cutting costs and being the bearer of sad news to thousands.
Reluctantly I returned to the UK, for I had little choice as my employment contract allowed the company to move me as required.
Once back in the UK, I found myself losing the passion for my work, my heart was missing, and a part of me felt as if it had been left behind in Asia. I had a real wake up call then, realizing that people who had given their all to a company for many years, were just a number (a cost!) when it came to downsizing exercises. Consultants move in, cold figures are analyzed, and no one seems to remember the great people, their work and the passion and time they have given to create the company’s success.
I continued to feel as if my heart was pulling me back to Asia and within me I knew that if I stayed in the UK role, I would become mundane, and ordinary; only working to live and pay the bills….and not living to follow my heart.
My partner and I decided to quit, and soon afterwards he was offered a job in Singapore with another retailer. On hearing this great news, a new part of me came to the surface! I heard myself saying , great lets go back to Asia, and instead of working immediately, I will take some time off an establish an Orphange (with the missionary I had met!)
Once those words were out, even I was shocked at what I had said! Where was the career girl in me? Where had these words come from?
I spontaneously decided that my missionary friend, whilst having a great heart, needed some practical business ideas and support to get the project off the ground and get funding coming in. So I followed my heart and arrived in Singapore, with no intention of getting a job, as I wanted to establish the orphanage in Thailand.
Its amazing how the Universe then came into play. I talked with passion to anyone and everyone who would listen about my new project….A small group of people with many different skills started to come into my life and so before I knew it I was presenting to schools and setting up small teams of people to help with the vision.
When you have a deep passion for something, nothing will stop you!
I soon found out that in some circles, having a corporate business card was much more sexy than talking about setting up an orphanage. Another realization that followed was that many people “judge” you on your role, whilst having no clue what you are really like as a person inside! Never judge a book by its cover they say ….yet so many of us actually do this for our whole life!
Undeterred by these temporary set-backs, I continued with inner zeal and determination and amazing synchronicities started to happen! On my first trip to Chiang Mai, waiting at airport immigration to get through with a huge line of Thai travelers, I glanced back and noticed just one more Western face. Amused at his height difference with the others in the queue, I just smiled ,after which he approached and asked me if I was on holiday in Thailand.
I found myself telling him the whole Orphanage story with passion and explaining that I was going to meet the missionary and look to at the land chosen for the orphanage. We chatted a few minutes and then he went back in the line …I thought nothing more of the event. We did not exchange contacts and of course I did not have a card to give! I continued on my trip, had a great time in Chiang Mai at the land chosen for the orphanage, and thought nothing more of that momentary meeting.
3 weeks later when I was back in Singapore, out of the blue I received an email asking “Are you the lady I met at the airport?” Hmmmm….how strange I thought and so gave the number on the email a call.
It turned out to be an amazing story – almost Divine-ly orchestrated! The guy could not forget the words I had told him at the airport and the passion with which I spoke about the orphanage! He said that for days and weeks, my words went around in his head and he thought he should help in some way, but was not sure how. So when he came back to Singapore he put an advert on an expat website asking “Did any one know of a blonde British lady who was opening an orphanage in Thailand”
Amazingly (or divine-ly) a lady who had been sitting next to me on a bus going into town one day, also had been moved by my story and she had taken my E mail ….well, she read the web site and passed it to the guy. So I spoke to him, and while he had no idea how he could help, he decided to come along anyway to a meeting I was having later that week.
It was a meeting I will never forget! There I was, reverting back to my business mode- doing a presentation to 15 people I did not really know about the various projects and hopes I had for the orphanage.
Two people sitting near the front were accountants and one in particular always saw the negatives in any situation (his glass was not half empty , it was totally empty!!) So as I was in full swing, getting excited about raising funds, he constantly told me . “This is difficult, not allowed in Singapore, You cant do this, that, or the other” In fact pretty much anything I was suggesting….was no do-able.
I felt my shoulders getting heavy and burdened, but due to my passion I decided not to give up and instead looked for other opportunities. I suddenly said “Well, there must be a mountain of second hand things mothers in Singapore would like to donate, maybe we can ship them to the orphanage, instead of raising monies to buy new things” Again the accountant jumped in – saying that the costs of shipping etc would prohibit this idea….It was like walking through treacle with him – everything was a no.
At this stage I looked around the room, to see if there was any glimmer of hope/ support, anywhere. All this while, the guy I had met at the airport had been sitting quietly at the back, not commenting at all. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he raised his hand….. “Sally I now know why I met you, I have access to a shipping company and so can ship the things you are mentioning to Thailand as my contribution to the Orphanage…”
And as we say...the rest was history. A 20 foot container, full to the brim of second hand designer cots/ prams/ clothes/ toys …even TV’s, computers etc arrived in Thailand and this was the start of the Blue Skies Orphanage. Today the orphanage has 23 children, all of whom are healthy and happy individuals.
As a medical pharmacist, I have always had a deep interest and passion for the mind-body connection. During my time in Asia I began to learn many alternative healing methods – Reiki, Colour Therapy, Crystal healing, Feng Shui, and Meditation to name a few.
Reiki guided me to a much greater understanding about how our thoughts affect our emotions and ultimately our health. It also opened up within me a deep inner knowing about so many other related aspects of life. From the moment I first experienced Reiki, I was hooked, and amazing synchronicities started to happen in life. I met people at the right time who seemed to be able to guide me forwards on my life journey. Reiki led me to colour and light therapies, and an amazing machine called Energy Emission Analysis, which takes a photograph of light emitted from fingers and toes and can pinpoint issues and emotions not as yet dealt with by the person.
Crystal healing then found me, and I was able to understand and apply natural solutions to many illnesses and diseases using a combination of Reiki / Light and Crystals. The results are amazing and healings begin to occur on many levels after just one treatment.
As I grew myself, I also became aware that my purpose in life was to teach self healing to others. I want people to become free and not dependent on therapists. Once you take the responsibility for your own health and healing, then miracles do start to come into your life. I now teach Reiki, Light and Crystal healing, Meditation and ways of living a life of balance.
Feng Shui became an interest when I discovered the effect that the 5 elements have on a person, and interestingly, by looking at a birth date, one can see which elements are out of balance and gain insights into the health issues these may produce. The external environment also plays a key role in health and wellness, and the ancient art of Feng Shui has many simple solutions which make a difference immediately in how one feels emotionally.
All this knowledge already exists in the Universe, all we need to do is reconnect and remember. I realized that spending a life doing more and more, actually takes you away from your peace and inner-centre. All dis –ease is a way of the body communicating that you are no longer in balance or harmony with nature.
Many of us go through life chasing an illusion of happiness; we feel we will be happy when x/y/z happens. In reality we only have this moment and so the choice is ours- do we decide to be happy now- or do we continue to chase the illusion? Everyone in life has issues and challenges…many of us feel that our problems are worse than everyone else’s…and so we keep them alive and re live them day after day after day.
The Buddha says a beautiful line “Whatever we focus upon grows..” So consciously we need to choose to focus upon our many blessings of life if we want to be happy.
The one constant of life is change, and little did I know that during the joys of helping others to find their own truth, I was about to hit a huge wave head-on in my own life. I found out that my husband had been unfaithful, and so had to make some pretty important personal decisions about the future of my life and beliefs. I decided I would no longer stay in a relationship where there was betrayal of basic values like integrity and trust and where I was not valued for the woman I was, and so opted for divorce, and a completely new beginning.
It was one of the most courageous decisions I have ever made, to leave a life of security and to start my life all over at 40 years of age. I had to stand on my own two feet and build my life all over again, and in a country which was relatively strange to me.
But as I said earlier, Divine guidance always seemed to help and guide me. I went to India to further my study in meditation under the guidance of Vikas Malkani, an internationally renowned spiritual teacher who was running SoulCentre there and during this time I mentioned I was going to start a small holistic business in Singapore, having explained my situation to him. He was amazed to hear this as only a few moments earlier his Singapore promoter had called to say she was leaving Singapore and her main concern was who could now look after his work. So we decided there and then to combine our talents and to open SoulCentre in Singapore. Since then everyday of my life has been a journey of discovery and of spreading love and light to all I meet through the work we do at SoulCentre.
I genuinely believe that once you are in the flow of life, some amazing things happen, which move you forward on your journey. Most of the times we are just too blind to see these beautiful messages and signs from God, and so I encourage everyone to open their eyes each day and to see the gentle nudges which push us to our Soul purpose in life.
It is always tempting to just take the easy route out – and in making this choice we do what we have always done – we suppress the inner calling and we do not listen to our heart. Following your heart does not guarantee an easy life, but it guarantees a life of purpose, meaning and passion.
One most memorable experience keeps me centered and grounded when the odd moan rises to the surface. Soon after the orphanage had opened, we received a call from a social worker to pick up yet another baby. On arriving at the designated place, I was amazed to see a corrugated iron shack – with no windows, just a door hole and mud flooring.
On entering the darkness within, the eyes took a while to adjust and in the corner I noticed something moving. At first I guessed it was a rat – but then to my horror I realized it was the baby we had come for. We picked him up to find his whole skin covered in ants. On taking him outside we realized the ants had bitten him all over his body so badly, that even the inside of his eyes were bitten and green with infection. The story of his birth was a miracle. Born to a young mother (approx 16), who realized at 6 months pregnancy that she could not afford a baby, so crushed up some painkillers and injected her stomach with it. The baby was born prematurely and left all day in the shack, taped to the mattress, and fed only water and rice. Social workers found out about him and called the orphanage.
We took him to the hospital where he was injected with antibiotics and we were told to expect the worst. For 3 days he screamed continuously and we realized he was not used to normal ways of living – being bathed, hugged, fed, etc. On the 4th day however, he became peaceful in his manner and we knew the worst was over. His eyes started to shine and since then he has grown to be a very strong, loving and full-of-life toddler at the Orphange. Remembering this story always puts life into perspective for me.
I meet many people in all walks of life with my work, and I spread the message that we all have so many blessings in life that we should focus on and not waste our life looking at the lack. Below are a few life lessons which I love to share;
1) In life whatever you focus upon grows....so chose to focus upon what you want in life, rather than what you do not want! Many of us can tell with passion what we do not want in life, but do we know what we really want? To stay happy and be fulfilled we need to know what we want from our life and to focus upon this.
2) Live life "just for today ..."Yesterday is only alive in your own mind, no one else knows about your past - so why keep it alive? Also remember that your past is just your view of your past for other players in it give different views. We all have pain in the past to different degrees- so chose to let it go and not keep focusing on it. If you live in the past, you lose the Now!
The future is not here yet, so why is it so many of us spend our days worrying about the future? When we worry we put a negative outcome on the future. Trust and have faith that the future will be bright!
If you spend a lot of time in the past/future , then all you do is take yourself away from the now..... A much better way is to enjoy the now and take positive steps in it ...thus creating a brighter future.
3) In life we all have choices....even doing nothing about a situation is a choice.....Decide what you want from life and take choices, followed by actions to achieve it!
4) We see the world as we are ....not as it is!! If you do not like your world...accept responsibility for it and make choices followed by actions to achieve the life you want.
5) In life if you count your blessings and look to the sunshine....you do not see the shadows of life. So make it a habit- write down 10 blessings and each day read them. Whenever you feel angry or sad, or just get frustrated, get the blessings out and read them.
6) Emotions affect you the most ...anger , sadness etc ...just steal your happiness..... So whilst issues will come to challenge us in life- choose your response! If you choose anger and sadness, know that YOU are choosing it and it will make you unhappy! You are able to respond in any manner you chose...so the choice is yours!
7) There is no stress outside of us- we create it inside of us. 2 people in exactly the same situation can react very differently to the same circumstances.....One stays calm while the other gets angry and blames people. Its all to do with how you are able to control your thoughts and your mind.
8) In life whatever you want to receive you must GIVE first !! If you want love, give love....If you want to be happy , give happiness to others. No one likes to be around a grumpy/angry person, so give happiness, love and joy to others and its amazing what results you get.
By Sally Forrest
Partner, SoulCentre
The great Masters say that a journey of a lifetime begins with a single step; on reflection, how true this is , and how interesting that the journey bears no resemblance to what life would have been had I not taken that first step.
I was born and educated in the UK and raised in a large, loving family where it was important to do well, get a good career and lead a life with meaning. Thus I was driven from an early age to succeed and to be independent. Being the middle child of 5 daughters, resources were limited and so I learnt from an early age to work hard in the world to succeed.
With new awareness, I now realize in hindsight that a life of meaning does not merely mean chasing the externals of life.
I studied hard, obtained good grades and graduated from University as a Pharmacist. I then worked for a leading UK company, Boots, and soon got promoted into management positions. In fact I got a “high” from promotions and every 18 months found myself moving home to undertake a new role in a different part of the UK. At that time the externals were my focus- Title, Career, House, Car, etc, etc. I excelled at “doing” and in using my very organized and active mind, and so found myself riding on the high of corporate life. Targets were exceeded, company results were the main motivator and my life was very much on the fast track of the business world.
Out of the blue, my partner and I were asked to go to Thailand to open Boots stores there. Believe it or not, it was a tough decision as it meant giving up the UK roles and status and in effect starting a new company thousands of miles away in Thailand. Those of you who have been in the corporate rat race realize that out of sight often means out of mind …especially when opening stores in Asia was a “ project” at the time and so politically it was not always supported by everyone in the company.
So it was a tough decision to leave the main spotlight and to go off onto an unknown project!
However, I made the decision to go and for the next 3 years found myself working in Thailand. It was right up my alley – fast paced, making decisions on all aspects of the business, opening stores at break neck speed of one every 2 weeks ….and of course socializing and mixing to promote the brand.
Interestingly, at times my whole identity was the brand, as I often worked 7 days and 12 hour days were a norm. (With Thailand being 8 hours ahead of the UK, one would receive calls at crazy times of the night, from head office staff asking mundane questions and not realizing there was a time zone difference …)
Whilst in Thailand I also completed an MBA , got married in a Thai style wedding and met a wonderful missionary who had a vision of opening an orphanage ….so all this added to the buzz and experiences.
Three crazy years passed and 70 stores were opened. Life was fun. Suddenly one day, totally out of the blue I was asked to return back to the UK and to take part in a project to downsize the parent company, which in plain English means making thousands of people redundant.
Wow, what a change from what I had become comfortable doing - from starting a company, full of fun and employing people…to returning to cutting costs and being the bearer of sad news to thousands.
Reluctantly I returned to the UK, for I had little choice as my employment contract allowed the company to move me as required.
Once back in the UK, I found myself losing the passion for my work, my heart was missing, and a part of me felt as if it had been left behind in Asia. I had a real wake up call then, realizing that people who had given their all to a company for many years, were just a number (a cost!) when it came to downsizing exercises. Consultants move in, cold figures are analyzed, and no one seems to remember the great people, their work and the passion and time they have given to create the company’s success.
I continued to feel as if my heart was pulling me back to Asia and within me I knew that if I stayed in the UK role, I would become mundane, and ordinary; only working to live and pay the bills….and not living to follow my heart.
My partner and I decided to quit, and soon afterwards he was offered a job in Singapore with another retailer. On hearing this great news, a new part of me came to the surface! I heard myself saying , great lets go back to Asia, and instead of working immediately, I will take some time off an establish an Orphange (with the missionary I had met!)
Once those words were out, even I was shocked at what I had said! Where was the career girl in me? Where had these words come from?
I spontaneously decided that my missionary friend, whilst having a great heart, needed some practical business ideas and support to get the project off the ground and get funding coming in. So I followed my heart and arrived in Singapore, with no intention of getting a job, as I wanted to establish the orphanage in Thailand.
Its amazing how the Universe then came into play. I talked with passion to anyone and everyone who would listen about my new project….A small group of people with many different skills started to come into my life and so before I knew it I was presenting to schools and setting up small teams of people to help with the vision.
When you have a deep passion for something, nothing will stop you!
I soon found out that in some circles, having a corporate business card was much more sexy than talking about setting up an orphanage. Another realization that followed was that many people “judge” you on your role, whilst having no clue what you are really like as a person inside! Never judge a book by its cover they say ….yet so many of us actually do this for our whole life!
Undeterred by these temporary set-backs, I continued with inner zeal and determination and amazing synchronicities started to happen! On my first trip to Chiang Mai, waiting at airport immigration to get through with a huge line of Thai travelers, I glanced back and noticed just one more Western face. Amused at his height difference with the others in the queue, I just smiled ,after which he approached and asked me if I was on holiday in Thailand.
I found myself telling him the whole Orphanage story with passion and explaining that I was going to meet the missionary and look to at the land chosen for the orphanage. We chatted a few minutes and then he went back in the line …I thought nothing more of the event. We did not exchange contacts and of course I did not have a card to give! I continued on my trip, had a great time in Chiang Mai at the land chosen for the orphanage, and thought nothing more of that momentary meeting.
3 weeks later when I was back in Singapore, out of the blue I received an email asking “Are you the lady I met at the airport?” Hmmmm….how strange I thought and so gave the number on the email a call.
It turned out to be an amazing story – almost Divine-ly orchestrated! The guy could not forget the words I had told him at the airport and the passion with which I spoke about the orphanage! He said that for days and weeks, my words went around in his head and he thought he should help in some way, but was not sure how. So when he came back to Singapore he put an advert on an expat website asking “Did any one know of a blonde British lady who was opening an orphanage in Thailand”
Amazingly (or divine-ly) a lady who had been sitting next to me on a bus going into town one day, also had been moved by my story and she had taken my E mail ….well, she read the web site and passed it to the guy. So I spoke to him, and while he had no idea how he could help, he decided to come along anyway to a meeting I was having later that week.
It was a meeting I will never forget! There I was, reverting back to my business mode- doing a presentation to 15 people I did not really know about the various projects and hopes I had for the orphanage.
Two people sitting near the front were accountants and one in particular always saw the negatives in any situation (his glass was not half empty , it was totally empty!!) So as I was in full swing, getting excited about raising funds, he constantly told me . “This is difficult, not allowed in Singapore, You cant do this, that, or the other” In fact pretty much anything I was suggesting….was no do-able.
I felt my shoulders getting heavy and burdened, but due to my passion I decided not to give up and instead looked for other opportunities. I suddenly said “Well, there must be a mountain of second hand things mothers in Singapore would like to donate, maybe we can ship them to the orphanage, instead of raising monies to buy new things” Again the accountant jumped in – saying that the costs of shipping etc would prohibit this idea….It was like walking through treacle with him – everything was a no.
At this stage I looked around the room, to see if there was any glimmer of hope/ support, anywhere. All this while, the guy I had met at the airport had been sitting quietly at the back, not commenting at all. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he raised his hand….. “Sally I now know why I met you, I have access to a shipping company and so can ship the things you are mentioning to Thailand as my contribution to the Orphanage…”
And as we say...the rest was history. A 20 foot container, full to the brim of second hand designer cots/ prams/ clothes/ toys …even TV’s, computers etc arrived in Thailand and this was the start of the Blue Skies Orphanage. Today the orphanage has 23 children, all of whom are healthy and happy individuals.
As a medical pharmacist, I have always had a deep interest and passion for the mind-body connection. During my time in Asia I began to learn many alternative healing methods – Reiki, Colour Therapy, Crystal healing, Feng Shui, and Meditation to name a few.
Reiki guided me to a much greater understanding about how our thoughts affect our emotions and ultimately our health. It also opened up within me a deep inner knowing about so many other related aspects of life. From the moment I first experienced Reiki, I was hooked, and amazing synchronicities started to happen in life. I met people at the right time who seemed to be able to guide me forwards on my life journey. Reiki led me to colour and light therapies, and an amazing machine called Energy Emission Analysis, which takes a photograph of light emitted from fingers and toes and can pinpoint issues and emotions not as yet dealt with by the person.
Crystal healing then found me, and I was able to understand and apply natural solutions to many illnesses and diseases using a combination of Reiki / Light and Crystals. The results are amazing and healings begin to occur on many levels after just one treatment.
As I grew myself, I also became aware that my purpose in life was to teach self healing to others. I want people to become free and not dependent on therapists. Once you take the responsibility for your own health and healing, then miracles do start to come into your life. I now teach Reiki, Light and Crystal healing, Meditation and ways of living a life of balance.
Feng Shui became an interest when I discovered the effect that the 5 elements have on a person, and interestingly, by looking at a birth date, one can see which elements are out of balance and gain insights into the health issues these may produce. The external environment also plays a key role in health and wellness, and the ancient art of Feng Shui has many simple solutions which make a difference immediately in how one feels emotionally.
All this knowledge already exists in the Universe, all we need to do is reconnect and remember. I realized that spending a life doing more and more, actually takes you away from your peace and inner-centre. All dis –ease is a way of the body communicating that you are no longer in balance or harmony with nature.
Many of us go through life chasing an illusion of happiness; we feel we will be happy when x/y/z happens. In reality we only have this moment and so the choice is ours- do we decide to be happy now- or do we continue to chase the illusion? Everyone in life has issues and challenges…many of us feel that our problems are worse than everyone else’s…and so we keep them alive and re live them day after day after day.
The Buddha says a beautiful line “Whatever we focus upon grows..” So consciously we need to choose to focus upon our many blessings of life if we want to be happy.
The one constant of life is change, and little did I know that during the joys of helping others to find their own truth, I was about to hit a huge wave head-on in my own life. I found out that my husband had been unfaithful, and so had to make some pretty important personal decisions about the future of my life and beliefs. I decided I would no longer stay in a relationship where there was betrayal of basic values like integrity and trust and where I was not valued for the woman I was, and so opted for divorce, and a completely new beginning.
It was one of the most courageous decisions I have ever made, to leave a life of security and to start my life all over at 40 years of age. I had to stand on my own two feet and build my life all over again, and in a country which was relatively strange to me.
But as I said earlier, Divine guidance always seemed to help and guide me. I went to India to further my study in meditation under the guidance of Vikas Malkani, an internationally renowned spiritual teacher who was running SoulCentre there and during this time I mentioned I was going to start a small holistic business in Singapore, having explained my situation to him. He was amazed to hear this as only a few moments earlier his Singapore promoter had called to say she was leaving Singapore and her main concern was who could now look after his work. So we decided there and then to combine our talents and to open SoulCentre in Singapore. Since then everyday of my life has been a journey of discovery and of spreading love and light to all I meet through the work we do at SoulCentre.
I genuinely believe that once you are in the flow of life, some amazing things happen, which move you forward on your journey. Most of the times we are just too blind to see these beautiful messages and signs from God, and so I encourage everyone to open their eyes each day and to see the gentle nudges which push us to our Soul purpose in life.
It is always tempting to just take the easy route out – and in making this choice we do what we have always done – we suppress the inner calling and we do not listen to our heart. Following your heart does not guarantee an easy life, but it guarantees a life of purpose, meaning and passion.
One most memorable experience keeps me centered and grounded when the odd moan rises to the surface. Soon after the orphanage had opened, we received a call from a social worker to pick up yet another baby. On arriving at the designated place, I was amazed to see a corrugated iron shack – with no windows, just a door hole and mud flooring.
On entering the darkness within, the eyes took a while to adjust and in the corner I noticed something moving. At first I guessed it was a rat – but then to my horror I realized it was the baby we had come for. We picked him up to find his whole skin covered in ants. On taking him outside we realized the ants had bitten him all over his body so badly, that even the inside of his eyes were bitten and green with infection. The story of his birth was a miracle. Born to a young mother (approx 16), who realized at 6 months pregnancy that she could not afford a baby, so crushed up some painkillers and injected her stomach with it. The baby was born prematurely and left all day in the shack, taped to the mattress, and fed only water and rice. Social workers found out about him and called the orphanage.
We took him to the hospital where he was injected with antibiotics and we were told to expect the worst. For 3 days he screamed continuously and we realized he was not used to normal ways of living – being bathed, hugged, fed, etc. On the 4th day however, he became peaceful in his manner and we knew the worst was over. His eyes started to shine and since then he has grown to be a very strong, loving and full-of-life toddler at the Orphange. Remembering this story always puts life into perspective for me.
I meet many people in all walks of life with my work, and I spread the message that we all have so many blessings in life that we should focus on and not waste our life looking at the lack. Below are a few life lessons which I love to share;
1) In life whatever you focus upon grows....so chose to focus upon what you want in life, rather than what you do not want! Many of us can tell with passion what we do not want in life, but do we know what we really want? To stay happy and be fulfilled we need to know what we want from our life and to focus upon this.
2) Live life "just for today ..."Yesterday is only alive in your own mind, no one else knows about your past - so why keep it alive? Also remember that your past is just your view of your past for other players in it give different views. We all have pain in the past to different degrees- so chose to let it go and not keep focusing on it. If you live in the past, you lose the Now!
The future is not here yet, so why is it so many of us spend our days worrying about the future? When we worry we put a negative outcome on the future. Trust and have faith that the future will be bright!
If you spend a lot of time in the past/future , then all you do is take yourself away from the now..... A much better way is to enjoy the now and take positive steps in it ...thus creating a brighter future.
3) In life we all have choices....even doing nothing about a situation is a choice.....Decide what you want from life and take choices, followed by actions to achieve it!
4) We see the world as we are ....not as it is!! If you do not like your world...accept responsibility for it and make choices followed by actions to achieve the life you want.
5) In life if you count your blessings and look to the sunshine....you do not see the shadows of life. So make it a habit- write down 10 blessings and each day read them. Whenever you feel angry or sad, or just get frustrated, get the blessings out and read them.
6) Emotions affect you the most ...anger , sadness etc ...just steal your happiness..... So whilst issues will come to challenge us in life- choose your response! If you choose anger and sadness, know that YOU are choosing it and it will make you unhappy! You are able to respond in any manner you chose...so the choice is yours!
7) There is no stress outside of us- we create it inside of us. 2 people in exactly the same situation can react very differently to the same circumstances.....One stays calm while the other gets angry and blames people. Its all to do with how you are able to control your thoughts and your mind.
8) In life whatever you want to receive you must GIVE first !! If you want love, give love....If you want to be happy , give happiness to others. No one likes to be around a grumpy/angry person, so give happiness, love and joy to others and its amazing what results you get.
3 comments:
Because of your selfless and wonderful love for all that we are blessed. My love and gratitude
Sally,
Thank you for sharing your learnings. I hope to be a regular visitor to your blog.
Ishrat, Dhaka
Hi Sally;
I came across your blog & read it with interest. Life is too short & we have to spend it wisely. i am also interested in helping or doing things for less fortunate people. May be we could meet one day when I am in Singapore as i travel often there too.
Kind regards
Shan Samsudeen
From Sri Lanka
Email - shanx2005@gmail.com
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